At the Core

Author:

Niven, Larry

Publication date:

1966-11

Publication type:

Short Story

Published:

Worlds of If, November 1966

Opus No.:

Setting:

Known Space

I.U.C.:

K.S. 24 (2646)

Characters:

Beowulf Shaeffer, puppeteers

Summary:

First appeared in Worlds of If, November 1966. A human spaceship pilot accepts an offer to guide a cramped (but very fast) experimental alien ship to the center of the galaxy on a promotional stunt—but what he finds at the core is much more important than just publicity.

Notes:

Beowulf discovers the core of the galaxy is exploding. First appearance of Long Sho

Reprints:

Reprints Characters Notes anthology, The Second If Reader of Science Fiction, edited by Frederik Pohl (cloth and paperback); French, Galaxie, Avril 1968 as "Jusqu'au Coeur"; CATASTROPHES! ed. Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh, First Fawcett Crest Printing, July 1981; Neutron Star; Crashlander; World of Ptavvs/A Gift from Earth/Neutron Star